Maria Lehtinen

Maria Lehtinen, PhD

Robertson Investigator, New York Stem Cell Foundation; Hannah C. Kinney, MD, Chair, Pediatric Pathology Research, Boston Children’s Hospital; Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School.

Research Focus

Choroid plexus-cerebrospinal fluid-based signaling in the nervous system.

Brief Research Description

Dr. Lehtinen's lab is committed to understanding the fundamental mechanisms that regulate the development and maintenance of the mammalian brain. The brain is bathed by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which also fills the brain’s ventricles or cavities. In the developing brain, neural precursor cells develop immediately adjacent to CSF-filled ventricles, and the CSF proteome provides a cocktail of secreted factors that help coordinate neurogenesis and brain development. They are investigating molecular mechanisms regulating CSF-brain interactions with a goal of improving our understanding of how missteps in these fundamental processes contribute to neurodevelopmental diseases.

Key Publications (PMCIDs)

Sodium Channel SCN3A (NaV1.3) Regulation of Human Cerebral Cortical Folding and Oral Motor Development.
Smith RS, Kenny CJ, Ganesh V, Jang A, Borges-Monroy R, Partlow JN, Hill RS, Shin T, Chen AY, Doan RN, Anttonen AK, Ignatius J, Medne L, Bonnemann CG, Hecht JL, Salonen O, Barkovich AJ, Poduri A, Wilke M, de Wit MCY, Mancini GMS, Sztriha L, Im K, Amrom D, Andermann E, Paetau R, Lehesjoki AE, Walsh CA, Lehtinen MK.
Neuron 2018;99(5):905-13 e7. PMCID: PMC6226006

Mice Expressing Myc in Neural Precursors Develop Choroid Plexus and Ciliary Body Tumors.
Shannon ML, Fame RM, Chau KF, Dani N, Calicchio ML, Geleoc GS, Lidov HGW, Alexandrescu S, Lehtinen MK.
Am J Pathol 2018;188(6):1334-44. PMCID: PMC5971223

Downregulation of ribosome biogenesis during early forebrain development.
Downregulation of ribosome biogenesis during early forebrain development. Elife 2018;7. PMCID: PMC5984036
Elife 2018;7. PMCID: PMC5984036

A concerted metabolic shift in early forebrain alters the CSF proteome and depends on MYC downregulation for mitochondrial maturation.
Fame RM, Shannon ML, Chau KF, Head JP, Lehtinen MK.
evelopment 2019;146(20). PMCID: PMC6826040

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